Mission Elements Research Articles

Działalność Zgromadzenia Salezjańskiego na płaszczyźnie wychowania ku wartościom moralnym i społecznym

This article portrays the most important elements of the Salesian formation and education in the context of social life. It also points out the specifics of the community and its charism which set the foundations for this congregation. The conclusion is a reflection on the key elements of the Salesian mission in the present world.

Construction of Wendelstein 7-X—Engineering a Steady-State Stellarator

The next step in the Wendelstein stellarator line is the large superconducting device Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), which is currently under construction in Greifswald. Steady-state operation is an intrinsic feature of stellarators, and one key element of the W7-X mission is to demonstrate steady-state operation at reactor-relevant plasma conditions, as required for an economic fusion reactor. Such steady-state operation requires development of special technologies to be discussed in this paper.

Europa Lander Mission: A Challenge to Find Traces of Alien Life

AbstractAn international effort dedicated to science exploration of Jupiter system planned by ESA and NASA in the beginning of next decade includes in-depth science investigation of Europa. In parallel to EJSM (Europa-Jupiter System Mission) Russian Space Agency and the academy of Science plan Laplace-Europa Lander mission, which will include the small telecommunication and science orbiter and the surface element: Europa Lander. In-situ methods on the lander provide the only direct possibility to assess environmental conditions, and to perform the search for signatures of life. A critical advantage of such in situ analysis is the possibility to enhance concentration and detection limits and to provide ground truth for orbital measurements. The science mission of the lander is biological, geophysical, chemical, and environmental characterizations of the Europa surface. Remote investigations from the orbit around Europa would not be sufficient to address fully the astrobiology, geodesy, and geology goals. The science objectives of the planned mission, the synergy between the Europa Lander and EJSM mission elements, and a brief description of the Laplace-Europa Lander mission are presented.

Transformative Spirituality and Mission: An Ecumenical Project

A new search for authentic spirituality has begun to build a common household ... Art and poetry, music and celebration, living together and listening to one another's stories, speaking out of oppressed alongside search for justice for most wretched of earth will be of equal importance in determining emerging spirituality of oikoumene, whole inhabited earth. (1) A Journey Towards Unity The basis of this article is Concept Paper elaborated by staff of Mission and Evangelism team of Council of Churches as a framework for study of Transformative and Mission (2008-2010). A growing awareness has been perceived in past years regarding spirituality as a basic pillar in journey towards unity. The Council of Churches and this concrete project are part of this long itinerary together with other partners and ecumenical organizations. The emphasis on spirituality on part of some significant leaders of ecumenical movement is very clear and it constitutes a hope for revitalizing our journey towards visible unity and full communion. Consequently, spirituality will be in future one of main elements in ecumenical education. It has been said that from stand of spirituality we will develop and nurture ecumenism for our times in 21st (2) It has also been said that transformative spirituality in mission can be considered as a new vision for ecumenical movement. Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 inspired birth of modern ecumenical movement, we aim to envision a new ecumenism by bringing transformative spirituality and mission to heart of ecumenical movement in new century. (3) Some of last assemblies of WCC have been an expression of this awareness. We remember that 1983 Vancouver assembly was called the praying assembly. The 1991 Canberra assembly theme was expressed for first time in form of an invocation, Come, Holy Spirit-Renew Whole Creation. The 1998 Harare assembly reaffirmed this concern for an authentic spirituality including a number of ethical issues that required urgent attention. Perhaps one of most interesting events we need to recall in this respect is 1994 Annecy consultation on Spirituality for our times. The assumptions made as a mark of a genuine, holistic spirituality for today were: first, source and guiding force of a true spirituality is action by Holy Spirit; secondly, spirituality is lived and sought in community; and thirdly, this spirituality involves an ongoing process of formation and discipleship. As to specific marks of such a spirituality, it was affirmed that it is to be incarnational with a proper emphasis on here-and-now of our existence. Informed by a sensitivity to culture and language and by history and symbols of a people, it should be celebratory. This spirituality is life-giving and is sustained by life of Trinity, rooted in scripture and nourished by prayer. This spirituality calls us to suffering for others' sake, to take risks in cause of justice. Open to wider oikoumene, it is joyful and hopeful. The WCC Mission Statements (1980-2005) gathered under title You are Light of World (Matt. 5:14), contain very rich spirituality material. As expressed in its introduction, this gospel reference, together with parallel sentence you are salt of earth, provides a key turning point in Sermon of Mount, linking proclamation of good news as beatitudes with guidelines that follow for a gospel-based ethics and spirituality. It is a vision that combines search for justice God requires and a shining witness to Christ, a mission whose aim is to invite all people to give glory to God (Matt. 5:16). (4) The WCC Athens Mission Conference (2005) was an opportunity to review some of contextual elements for mission that we consider worth remembering here. …

LISA system design highlights

A contract, started in January 2005, was awarded to a consortium of Astrium GmbH and Astrium Ltd for the LISA Mission Formulation. The scope of the contract was the development of a reference design for the mission architecture and for the mission elements (with particular focus on the payload) and a successive phase of derivation of requirements, to be concluded with a mission design review. The technical starting point was the output of the previous LISA study formalized in the Final Technical Report, issued in the year 2000. During the design phase, different architecture concepts were identified and traded off, including the LISA orbits, the measurement scheme and the opto-mechanical architecture. During the Mission Design Review (July 2008) the consolidated mission baseline design, and the specifications of the flight elements and of the payload subsystem and major components were presented. This paper gives a brief overview of the major design points of the latest design of the LISA system.

Optical elements for a CMBPol mission

We present an overview of selected optical technologies that are candidates for use in the CMBPOL satellite mission, indicate how the technologies are being tested, and estimate their Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

Missions statements in Wales: the impact of markets and policy on congruence between institutions

This study seeks to compare the mission statements of higher education institutions in Wales as well as to compare these with regional level policy statements and demands from the market. The underlying idea is to reveal the extent to which mission statements actually differ and are (or are not) in line with such regional policies and market demands. The importance of the study is that it highlights the extent to which expectations from either government or the market are actually taken on board by institutions and the extent to which this could threaten institutional diversity. The study shows that congruence of missions is expressed in elements relating to excellence, research and a commitment to Wales and its economy. At the same time, missions are very diverse, with no two institutions stressing the same set of mission elements. The findings do not indicate that mission diversity is threatened by policy or market forces.

An inverse method for non linear ablative thermics with experimentation of automatic differentiation

Thermal Protection System is a key element for atmospheric re-entry missions of aerospace vehicles. The high level of heat fluxes encountered in such missions has a direct effect on mass balance of the heat shield. Consequently, the identification of heat fluxes is of great industrial interest but is in flight only available by indirect methods based on temperature measurements. This paper is concerned with inverse analyses of highly evolutive heat fluxes. An inverse problem is used to estimate transient surface heat fluxes (convection coefficient), for degradable thermal material (ablation and pyrolysis), by using time domain temperature measurements on thermal protection. The inverse problem is formulated as a minimization problem involving an objective functional, through an optimization loop. An optimal control formulation (Lagrangian, adjoint and gradient steepest descent method combined with quasi-Newton method computations) is then developed and applied, using Monopyro, a transient one-dimensional thermal model with one moving boundary (ablative surface) that has been developed since many years by ASTRIUM-ST. To compute numerically the adjoint and gradient quantities, for the inverse problem in heat convection coefficient, we have used both an analytical manual differentiation and an Automatic Differentiation (AD) engine tool, Tapenade, developed at INRIA Sophia-Antipolis by the TROPICS team. Several validation test cases, using synthetic temperature measurements are carried out, by applying the results of the inverse method with minimization algorithm. Accurate results of identification on high fluxes test cases, and good agreement for temperatures restitutions, are obtained, without and with ablation and pyrolysis, using bad fluxes initial guesses. First encouraging results with an automatic differentiation procedure are also presented in this paper.

Recovery of lunar surface access module residual and reserve propellants

The vision for space exploration calls for human exploration of the lunar surface in the 2020 timeframe. Sustained human exploration of the lunar surface will require supply, storage, and distribution of consumables for a variety of mission elements. These elements include propulsion systems for ascent and descent stages, life support for habitats and extra-vehicular activity, and reactants for power systems. NASA KSC has been tasked to develop technologies and strategies for consumables transfer for lunar exploration as part of the exploration technology development program. This paper will investigate details of operational concepts to scavenge residual propellants from the lunar descent propulsion system. Predictions on the mass of residuals and reserves are made. Estimates of heat transfer and boil-off rates are calculated and transient tank thermodynamic issues post-engine cutoff are modeled. Recovery and storage options, including cryogenic liquid, vapor and water are discussed, and possible reuse of LSAM assets is presented.

Rewarding Diversity of Excellence

Rewarding Diversity of Excellence

Autonomous European lunar exploration—Entry point for a global cooperation

Since several years the institutions of the authors have conducted many strategic studies, which are aiming at lunar ventures serving both scientific and commercial applications. The latest mission concept, which has been created in this partnership together with scientific user groups from nine countries is targeting towards the establishment of lunar infrastructures serving multiple sciences. The selected strategy for the implementation of this scenario leads to the definition of the erection of a low frequency radio telescope on the far side of the Moon as initial venture. As starting point the erection of a first hub at a lunar pole was discussed. The further analyses show that the completion of the scenario will demand a global co-operation also in the sense of man tended missions or even permanent human bases. For this reason a global roadmap has to be considered for the generation of a credible programmatic. On the other hand to achieve a sustainable political and public support for this kind of venture it seems mandatory for Europe to achieve a visible contribution in such kind of venture. Therefore the identification of an autonomous European mission element, which allows self-standing execution of missions on one hand, but also provides key contributions to an international road map are major elements of the study. An overview on the current status of the proposed scenario will be given in terms of technical solution but with a strong focus on the programmatic, leading from an autonomous European initial mission to an international lunar venture.

Spare Parts Requirements for Space Missions with Reconfigurability and Commonality

The logistics resources (in the form of spare parts) for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars can have significant mass and volume requirements. In this study it is shown that reconfigurable or common parts, that allow use of the same component in dierent mission elements, can be a means of reducing the required number of spares. A model for determining the system availability as a function of spares level is developed for a mission that utilizes elements with reconfigurable or common parts. An explicit consideration of the operating scenario is made which allows for using components from elements that are not operating at a given time. A Mars surface exploration mission is used to illustrate the application of this model. It is shown, for the specific example studied in the analysis, that the same level of system availability can be achieved with 33% - 50% fewer spares if the parts are reconfigurable or common across dierent mission elements.

Leadership in Academic Medicine: Capabilities and Conditions for Organizational Success

Leadership in Academic Medicine: Capabilities and Conditions for Organizational Success

Intervention and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Peace Operations

Culture is increasingly an important consideration in peace operations. Efforts to ameliorate culture-based difficulties between organizations participating in missions and between mission elements and local populations are proliferating. These focus on providing guidance about what to expect and how to act toward individuals from other cultural groups. This article shows that such advice is insufficient for understanding how culture affects peacekeeping. A general framework is presented for linking cultural elements to a deeper symbolic level from which peacekeeping derives its legitimacy, standing, and authority. The importance of the root metaphor of the United Nations as an institution for creating a world in which national interests and cut-throat geopolitical power relations are trumped by collective action is explicated. Peacekeeping is shown to be linked to this root metaphor through a number of behavioral inversions. When those inversions are not part of a peacekeeping mission, the entire instrument of peacekeeping is destabilized.

Low cost navigation system for UAV's

This paper describes the development of a navigation system for SIVA family of UAVs that incorporates measurements from low cost solid state IMU and magneto-resistive magnetometer, single receiver inexpensive GPS, and absolute and differential pressure transducers. The navigator is composed of three modules: an attitude estimator, a position and velocity estimator and a mission management module. All the UAV navigation, guidance, control and communication algorithms and processes run on a PC-104 Pentium I processor. The attitude estimator algorithm is a computationally-inexpensive nonlinear observer developed using Lyapunov theory that computes angular velocity corrections from two vector measurements: Earth's magnetic field and gravity, guaranteeing global Input to State Stability. The position and velocity estimator consists of a set of three static linear Kalman filters that correct the integration of local level components of acceleration with GPS, pressure derived altitude and airspeed measurements. The autonomous navigation is performed by means of pre-programmed mission data, composed by a set of mission elements which define the trajectory to guide the UAV through a safe path. Mission data, mission phases and ground control modes are managed by the mission management module.

Science & Technology: A Synergic Cooperation. The Italian Experience in the Cassini Mission

The successful insertion of the Cassini mission into the orbit around Saturn, on July 1st 2004, marked the end of a long journey across the solar system, started in October 1997, and the beginning of the scientific exploration of the Saturn system. During the long transfer, several instruments have been operated whenever the possibility of a scientific investigation was envisaged by the scientists. The results achieved during the cruise, in particular those related to the field of Relativity, have also demonstrated the excellent characteristics of the instruments, allowing unprecedented levels of accuracy in the measurements. The Italian provided instruments have already played a key roles during the cruise, and are expected to provide their contribution to unveil the mysteries of Saturn and its moons, above all Titan. Italian industries have also provided mission elements, fundamental for the Cassini Mission success. The Italian participation to the Cassini mission has been carried on through a specific NASA-ASI Memorandum of Understanding, signed on 23rd of June 1993, for the implementation of the contribution to the Cassini Orbiter. Furthermore, as a member state of ESA, Italian scientists and industry participate to the realization of the Huygens Probe. It is quite remarkable how, since the very beginning of the program, at the end of the 80’s, the Italian Space Agency, the scientific community and the national industry have cooperated in a highly synergic way, motivated by the shared goal of an important and successful participation to the Cassini and Huygens missions. After a general description of the mission, this paper will provide an overview of the Italian scientific, industrial and technological participation.

YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE! PROBLEMS AND SOME POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS IN DEVELOPING NEW CLASSES OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS

The explosion of capabilities and new products within the sphere of information technology (IT) has fostered widespread, overly optimistic opinions regarding the industry, based on common but unjustified assumptions of quality and correctness of software. NASA faces this dilemma as it envisages advanced mission concepts that involve large swarms of small spacecraft that will engage cooperatively to achieve science goals. Such missions involve levels of complexity that beg for new methods for system development far beyond today's methods, which are inadequate for ensuring correct behavior of large numbers of interacting intelligent mission elements. New system development techniques recently devised through NASA-led research will offer innovative approaches to achieving correctness in complex system development, including autonomous swarm missions that exhibit emergent behavior, as well as general software products created by the software Industry.

Operational, economic and mission elements in not-for-profit organizations: the case of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The term not-for-profit often brings to mind the idea of an altruistic organization serving society. The reality is that the not-for-profit is a far more complex organization that is responsible to diverse groups of stakeholders. Unlike for-profit organizations, not-for-profit (NFP) organizations have to focus on dual, and often conflicting, goals relating to fulfilling their overall mission while also generating enough revenue to maintain their operating structures. In order to better understand the nature of the dual orientation of the NFP organization, the behavior of Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) patrons using the CSO website is viewed. Specifically, this study examines data for individuals purchasing CSO concert tickets on-line during an 8-month period in 2000–2001. MANOVA and ANOVA statistical procedures are used to analyze the effects of both the economic and mission related orientations operationalized through the e-service encounter. Further, we view data from the on-line ticketing function relative to the labor costs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Theory and Practice of Competition Advocacy at the FTC

This article was prepared as part of a recent symposium celebrating the Ninetieth Anniversary of the founding of the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, Fall 2004 marks the Thirtieth Anniversary of a pivotal moment in the establishment of the modern advocacy program at the FTC, Chairman Lewis Engman's speech on the economic burden that inefficient transportation regulation policies were imposing on the American economy. Although the FTC has been involved in advocacy activities since its founding, Engman's speech symbolized a new aggressiveness on the part of the FTC in using its expertise to work with other governmental actors at all levels of the political system and in all branches of government to design policies that further competition and consumer choice. Notwithstanding the beneficial impact that advocacy activities have had on the economy, the fortunes of the advocacy program have waxed and waned over time. In part, these mixed fortunes may reflect a lack of fundamental grounding of advocacy within the core mission of the FTC. The advocacy program, moreover, often has been politically controversial, exposing the Commission to criticism from special interests, Congress, and other governmental actors. This article explores the theory and practice of competition advocacy, with the goal of explaining why the advocacy program should be recognized as a core element of the Commission's mission. Advocacy can be used in conjunction with many of the FTC's other tools, and in many situations the judicious use of advocacy can provide a low-cost and effective alternative to other enforcement options. The advocacy program is a unique and cost-effective tool for carrying out this mission. Because consumers are disadvantaged in the political arena vis-a-vis industry, they are likely to be unable to stop anticompetitive regulation on their own. Antitrust immunities, moreover, sometimes put anticompetitive regulation beyond the reach of traditional enforcement. By providing a means for the FTC to represent consumers' interests directly in the policy-production mechanism, the advocacy program can overcome these two hurdles and provide protection for consumers at relatively low cost.

The Public Business School in Economic Development: Preferences of Chamber of Commerce Leaders

In this article, the author surveyed chambers of commerce in the New England region to investigate their opinions of the role that public business schools should play in regional economic development. Although schools typically emphasize the mission elements of research and teaching, the respondents tended to express greater interest in the capability of schools to offer technical assistance and adult/continuing education. The author offers recommendations for schools wishing to develop a meaningful involvement in economic development.